Antonio Carvajal de Arana

Antonio Carvajal de Arana (18 May 1795-27 June 1863) was a Mexican politician and general who served as Governor of Paleto Bay from 1820 to 1846. His rule was ended when a force of American militiamen took over the town during the Mexican-American War.

Biography
Carvajal was born in Oaxaca in the Spanish Viceroyalty of New Spain to a family of Basque origin. He was raised in a climate of social change and dissent and was made a Brigadier in the Spanish Army in 1818. During the Mexican War of Independence, Carvajal surrendered a force of 5,000 troops to the Mexican rebels, who appointed him Governor of Paleto, a town on the coastline of present-day California. During his tenure as Governor he oversaw some wars with the Indians who attacked the rural areas of southern California, and he was a member of the Centralist Party of Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, who appointed him Lieutenant-General in 1846.

As the Governor of Paleto and a commander in the Mexican Army, Carvajal was responsible for bolstering the defenses of present-day Blaine County. From 1823 to 1845 he fought with small bands of American pioneers under Thomas Blaine and Jedediah Warner diplomatically, as they had settled on his lands and began their own colonies. In 1846, with the start of the Mexican-American War, Carvajal fought Blaine in military conflict, but he was forced to surrender when Paleto was captured by the Californians in August.

After surrendering Paleto Bay to the Americans, Carvajal returned home for reassignment. He was made Quartermaster-General of Chiapas but was given no orders during the war and was sidelined for the rest of his career. In 1862 he backed Benito Juarez's Mexican Republicans against Maximiliano I of Mexico and his French allies and Austrian compatriots. A year later Carvajal was captured by Imperial Mexican troops and was sentenced to death for treason, and was hanged.